Rep: Jewish

One Good Thing / Georgia Hunter

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
One Good Thing
By: Georgia Hunter
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 432
Published: March 4, 2025
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Dates Read: March 27, 2025 - April 8, 2025
Format: ARC / Paperback

In 1941 Italy, best friends Lili and Esti are as close as sisters, especially after Esti’s son Theo is born. But then the war knocks on Italy’s doors and Mussolini’s Racial Laws have deemed Lili and Esti descendants of an “inferior” Jewish race.

The two women and Theo first flee to a villa in the countryside to help hide a group of young war orphans, then to a convent in Florence, where they pose as nuns and forge false identification papers for the Italian Underground. When the convent is raided, Esti ends up wounded and asks Lili to take Theo and run; to protect him.

Even though she’s terrified of traveling on her own, Lili heads south towards the Allied territory, travelling through Nazi-occupied villages, bombed out cities, and wide open fields, doing everything she can to keep Theo safe while they wait for both the war to end and to be reunited with Esti.

So, I feel like quite a few people who read We Were the Lucky Ones and immediately wanted this new novel from Georgia Hunter, so of course I asked for an ARC of it as soon as I saw it. As with the previous novel, Hunter did a fantastic job at crafting characters who were relatable and endearing. I felt like I was reading a letter from a friend as I followed Lili’s journey.

As I’ve come to slowly learn over the years, no matter how many WWII historical fiction novels I read, I’m constantly learning more and more about different parts of Europe and different experiences through every book. I’ve known Italy started off on the Axis side and then effectively switched sides after the Allied invasion, but I didn’t realize the treatment of Jews during this time.

Overall, an amazing character enriched historical fiction about one woman’s endurance during the WWII in Italy as she does everything to protect her best friend’s son.

*Thank you Pamela Dorman Books and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival / Estelle Nadel, Bethan Strout, Sammy Savos (Illustrator)

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The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival
By: Estelle Nadel, Bethany Strout, Sammy Savos (Illustrator)
Genre: Graphic Novel, Memoir, Middle Grade
Number of Pages: 272
Published: January 23, 2024
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Dates Read: March 15, 2025
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

Trigger Warnings: Holocaust, death, murder, war, antisemitism

Estelle Nadel was just seven years old when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 – back then she was known as Enia Feld and she was born into a Jewish family. Once a vibrant child who loved to sing, Estelle would eventually lose her voice over the next five years as she went into hiding.

At the mercy of her neighbors during the war, Estelle would survive the deaths of her mother, father, her eldest brother and sister, and countless others, all before the age of eleven. After the war, Estelle would travel barefoot around European borders to find solace in an Austrian displaced persons camp before finally traveling across the Atlantic to New York City.

Told with the art from debut illustrator, Sammy Savos, Estelle tells her story of surviving the Holocaust and the years after.

No matter how many different experiences from the Holocaust I read about, they never cease to amaze me in how much strength and resilience people showed in order to survive the war and even the aftermath of it. People of all ages survived it and all their stories deserve to be shared and honored. 

Estelle’s journey didn’t end with liberation, and after making it to America, she still struggled with finding her place as she was still relatively young. After growing up, Estelle made it her mission in life to speak to school children and share her story, so that the Holocaust would not be forgotten.

Estelle Nadel passed away on November 28, 2023.

We Are Not Strangers / Josh Tuininga

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We Are Not Strangers
By: Josh Tuininga
Genre: Graphic Novel
Number of Pages: 197 
Published: September 12, 2023
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Dates Read: January 29, 2025
Format: Library Book / eBook

Inspired by true events, We Are Not Strangers follows a Jewish immigrant, Marco Calvo, in his efforts to help his Japanese neighbors while they were incarcerated during WWII under President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066.

Well, here we are, at the beginning of 2025 and I’m here reading about yet another part of history I wasn’t aware of. I knew of the camps Japanese and Japanese-Americans were put into after the attack of Pearl Harbor – but I didn’t know about the neighbors who helped those incarcerated by helping with their mortgage or keeping their shops running. Not everyone has this help of course, but there were still some who help their friends have something to come back to.

The art of this graphic was beautiful and realistic, making the story page turning.

This would be a great novel to open the door for discussion about the Japanese camps on American soil during and after WWII. This was well researched and there’s a long appendix with maps, illustrations, and articles from Settle’s past.

The Judgement of Yoyo Gold / Isaac Blum

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The Judgement of Yoyo Gold
By: Isaac Blum
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Number of Pages: 304
Published: October 15, 2024
Publisher: Philomel Books
Dates Read: December 21, 2024 - December 25, 2024
Format: Library Book / Hardcover / Audiobook

Yoyo Gold has always been the perfect Jewish daughter of the rabbi – she keeps Kosher, watching her siblings, volunteers at the local food bank, she even respects and encourages others to observe their Orthodox faith. But when her best friend is sent far away from her community for what Yoyo feels like is a seemingly innocent transgression, Yoyo’s eyes (and ears) begin to open to her neighbor’s hypocrisies.

As Yoyo’s frustration with the secrets builds, so does the pressure to speak out. She finds release by posting anonymously on TikTok, an app forbidden for her. But when one of her videos goes viral, Yoyo’s decision to post not only affects her life, but also the relationship with the boy she is falling for, and her world is thrown into mayhem. She is forced to choose a path, not only for her community, her family, but most importantly for herself. 

I don’t know how I found myself reading about teenagers who begin questioning their relationship with religion, but I guess that’s a part of growing up isn’t it? Though this book is about an Orthodox Jewish teenager, anyone who has struggled with the pressures of doing what you’ve always been told to do and with the desire to be your own person, you’ll relate to this book.

I grew up Baptist. I can’t say if I met anyone who practiced the Jewish faith until I was well into college. I also can’t say if this book is a good representation of the modern Orthodox Jewish experience or not as I don’t know. But, I do think there’s a voice in here for many to feel seen.

*Thank you Philomel Books and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Don’t Want to Be Your Monster / Deke Moulton

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Don’t Want to Be Your Monster
By: Deke Moulton
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Number of Pages: 304
Published: August 1, 2023
Publisher: Tundra Books
Dates Read: March 10, 2024 - March 12, 2024
Format: Hardcover

Adam and Victor have fights just like all brothers – over the remote, over chores, over rather or not it’s morally acceptable to eat people… well, more like when it’s okay to drink someone’s blood. They’re young vampires hiding in the woods with the sibling Sung and their Moms in Lacey, Washington. Pacific Northwest. United States of America.

For the most part, everything has been great – until bodies start to appear all over town and it becomes pretty clear there’s a vampire hunter involved. But as both boys try to find their own way of solving the murders, it creates a wedge between them. Can they reconcile their differences and work together before it’s too late?

Okay, this was cute. I was a little bit worried about it when I first started it because young literature with vampires can go so many different ways. This one however, went in the right direction! There’s of course a small change up from what you usually think of vampires with how the author pictures them in their world, but through the characters, they explain kind of their reasoning as to why their vampires are a little different than your classic ones. Which, in all honesty, all made complete sense to me!

I also loved the idea of a Jewish Vampire. Cause yea, nearly everything around vampires has been centered around Catholicism (I mean, so is most history if we’re being real honest), so that was another nice change to see in a vampire world.

Overall, a wonderfully cute, middle grade vampire novel. I didn’t think it was really scary or gory or anything like that so it fits well with younger readers. I don’t know if “soft fantasy” is what I’m looking for because there is a vampire hunter and murder, and it’s high stakes, but it’s not terrifying! This is a book I can see those who like the vampire world would enjoy – no matter the age!

*Thank you Tundra Books and LibraryThing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

A Multitude of Dreams / Mara Rutherford

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A Multitude of Dreams
By: Mara Rutherford
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Number of Pages: 384
Published: August 29, 2023
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Dates Read: August 29, 2023 - September 2, 2023
Format: Hardcover

Trigger Warnings: plague, death, blood, racism, murder, self harm, genocide, survivors guilt

A Multitude of Dreams is a reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. Four years ago, King Stuart gathered his royals, noblemen, and daughters and locked them into the safety of the castle walls. Every window was boarded up and every door sealed shut – all to protect those within of the horrible mori roja plague ravaging the land outside.

Told in third person, this novel follows Seraphina, a Jewish girl, who is also the (fake) Princess Imogene, and Nico, who once lived a comfortable life but now works for Lord Crane, the man who saved his life after he lost everything. When Lord Crane sends Nico and two others on the search for survivors, Nico meets a princess who wants out. But both are living in giant webs of lies and deception that they must unravel if they’re going to survive. 

I wanted this title because I read The Poison Season and I really enjoyed it. So, when I saw Mara Rutherford had another YA novel coming out, I immediately put it on my TBR list. It’s also listed as Fantasy Gothic and 

I was all about it and also the cover – like, I love it!

There were a few twists in here I didn’t quite see right away, which was nice. And, even some of the ones that I did see coming, I still enjoyed Rutherford’s storytelling and it kept me interested. And yes, there is some romance in this, but it wasn’t the main focus of the story – surviving and getting out of the castle was.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who’s in need of a good gothic fantasy with a hidden identity, Jewish representation, a masquerade, and the fight of survival.

*Thank you Inkyard Press and BookishFirst for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review